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Kinshasa – Multinational companies are profiting hand over fist from abusive forestry
practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where illegal logging,
mislabelled timber and false permits are widespread, according to several
non-governmental organisations.

The forests of the Congo basin in central Africa cover about 100 million
hectares and are regarded as the second-largest green lung on the planet after
the Amazon rainforest, but in DR Congo trees are being cut down with little
regard for the law.

Local and international NGOs charge that Congolese authorities are working
with logging companies.

In spite of tighter regulations recently adopted in Europe on imports of
timber from Africa, it is almost impossible to verify the legality of tropical
wood from DR Congo, according to the British-based non-profit organisation
Resource Extraction Monitoring.

Fraud

The group, which has staff in the field to investigate illegal activity,
says the country's timber industry is tarnished by "widespread fraud and
illegal logging".

Wenge, a heavy, dark and deeply patterned wood used for decoration and
building, is both widely sought and listed as endangered – meaning it can fetch
large sums of money, though little of that ends up in local hands.

"A cubic metre of Wenge is worth five American dollars in the forest
when it is legally bought from local communities. When it arrives in a port and
is loaded on a boat, it costs $450 and taxation is based on this rate. Yet in
Europe, it sells for between 5 000 and 8 000 euros," an expert who asked
not to be named told AFP.

"The loss of income for the Congolese state and population is
enormous."

Greenpeace Africa recently denounced the unloading at the Belgian port of
Antwerp of a cargo of Afromosia, which is another rare hardwood.

"Belgium has placed the interests of logging companies above the
protection of the forests of the Congo and the people who depend on them for
their existence," said Raoul Monsembula, the DR Congo national co-ordinator
for Greenpeace Africa.

Illegal logging

Forty cubic metres of Afromosia were closely followed from origin to
destination by several environmental activists. These witnesses, who all asked
to remain anonymous for fear of expulsion or losing their contracts, saw the
hardwood transported via the DR Congo river port of Kinkole.

"Upon visiting Kinkole port near Kinshasa, Greenpeace Africa witnessed
log ends being removed and painted with new markings to hide illegal activities
and to enable export," the NGO said in a March report.

The wood was then placed on trucks to be transported to Matadi, the
country's sole seaport, where it was loaded onto a cargo ship bound for
Belgium.

In its report, Greenpeace named several suspect European companies and
published photos of lorries carrying large, unregistered Wenge logs, along with
wood that was completely unidentified despite regulations providing for each
log from a single tree to be clearly marked with the same number.

The activist body also showed logs seized by police that would be recycled
in the commercial sector.

While social and environmental restrictions have been imposed on industrial
logging firms, the Congolese environment ministry has handed out far more
artisanal permits than officially authorised to local groups that act as a
front for foreign or national interests, the industry sector expert said.

In the forest, wood is traded for packets of cigarettes, sacks of flour and
hunting rifles, he told AFP.

The NGO Global Witness has denounced a lax application of regulations by
Kinshasa, which it says makes such abuses possible.

"What do you expect when co-operatives or non-profit organisations can
join up to obtain logging permits for 50 000ha – as is provided for in a
planned decree on 'local community forests' – which they clearly could not
exploit on their own?" the expert asked, warning that this scheme might
open the door to further illegal activity.

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